How to Make BBQ Shrimp Empanadas

Recipe:

Guava-glazed
Barbecue Shrimp Empanadas

Serves 10 | Time: 45 minutes
plus an hour to rest the dough

Sautéed shrimp are tossed in lime juice, then coated with a barbecue sauce mixture that’s been infused with the fruit-forward jamminess of guava puree. The result is a sweet and tangy filling with chunks of shrimp and flaky-firm empanada pastry in every bite.

Karina Montes-Edouard, the owner of 249 Cocina Moderna, says empanada fillings can be made from the foods you enjoy or simply as a way to repurpose leftovers. COURTESY PHOTO

This guava-glazed barbecue shrimp empanada recipe is the creation of Karina Montes-Edouard, the owner of 249 Cocina Moderna, who grew up eating empanadas in Colombia. Sometimes the pastries were stuffed with leftovers and served for breakfast.

“You can literally put whatever you want in it,” she said, recognizing how folks are looking for ways to be flexible with their resources during the pandemic. “You may have frozen veggies and leftover meat. Throw it in an empanada and make a new dish.”

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Karina Montes-Edouard is a personal chef in Deerfield Beach, Florida. She makes empanadas stuffed with oxtails, brown stew chicken, jackfruit, black beans and Italian baked ziti. During the pandemic we will be publishing traditional and easy Caribbean-inspired recipes as part of our special Stay-at-Home Issue.

Ingredients:

For the Dough
2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp salt
½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick chilled)
1 large egg
⅓ cup ice water
1 tbsp distilled white vinegar
1 egg white, plus 1 tsp water for the egg wash

Shrimp Filling
2 tbs guava paste
4 tbs Sweet Baby Ray barbecue sauce
15 jumbo shrimp, shelled and deveined, about ¾ lb.
2 scallions
1 lime for the juice

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Feel free to substitute an ingredient with another item that fits a similar flavor profile. Here are the substitutions we made.

Shrimp: Use crab, a white fish like tilapia, or chicken. We opted for frozen shrimp. Just be sure to fully cook the protein before assembling the empanada.

Guava paste: A fruit forward jam like mango, peach or strawberry would also work.

Sweet Baby Ray barbecue sauce: Any barbecue sauce will work. But if you have an option between an original sauce and a smoky bacon one, go for the original. You can also make your own sauce by cooking down ketchup or tomato sauce with onion and garlic powder, black pepper, cayenne, honey, sugar and a splash of vinegar or old wine.

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Preparation:

Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Cube the butter into quarter-inch squares. Add the butter to the flour and blend with your fingers until it resembles coarse meal.

Whisk the egg, water and vinegar in a bowl, then add to the flour mixture. Stir with a fork to form the dough. Gently knead once or twice on a floured surface to bring the dough together. Form the dough into a flat rectangle, wrap it in cling wrap and place it in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

Make the filling: Whisk the guava paste and barbecue sauce in a bowl until blended. Add the sliced scallions. Set aside.

Place the peeled and deveined shrimp in an oiled skillet on low-to-medium heat for 10 minutes, flipping the shrimp midway through to cook on both sides. Cooked shrimp are white and pink and no longer translucent. Remove the skillet from the heat and coat the shrimp with lime juice.

Once the shrimp are cool, halve each one by slicing it lengthwise from head to tail. Add the pieces to the sauce and coat evenly.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Break away 2-inch sections of the dough to form balls that can comfortably be cupped in your palm. You should have around 10 balls.

Place a sheet of cling wrap on the counter. Put one ball in the center. Place another sheet of wrap on top of the ball. Flatten the ball with your palm. Use a rolling pin to make a 6 ½ -inch-wide circle that is as flat as a thin tortilla. Remove the top layer of wrap.

Place two shrimp in the middle (and just above the center) of the dough so that the ends slightly overlap. Add a ¼ teaspoon of sauce to fill the gap where the shrimp ends meet. Use the cling wrap to fold the dough over, forming a half circle. Seal the edges with your fingers. Unfold the cling wrap. Use a fork to crimp the edges. Brush with the egg wash. Use a fork to make steam holes.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.